T EACHING LITERACY Delivering Supportive Fluency …

1 T EACHING LITERACY . Delivering Supportive Fluency Instruction . Especially for Students Who Struggle A student performs a poem for a receptive audience by Timothy Rasinski T. he Common Core State Standards (CCSS) identify Teaching Reading Fluency word recognition and reading Fluency as foundational Reading Fluency has two essential components: competencies necessary for reading growth. Yet, 1. Word recognition that is not only accurate but also despite its recognized importance, Fluency instruction is often automatic or effortless (automaticity). severely limited in many classrooms.

2 2. Prosodic or expressive reading (prosody). One reason is that the role of Fluency in reading instruction Given the critical role that Fluency plays and recognizing has not been clearly identified. Evidence of this lack of clarity that many students who struggle in overall reading comes from the International Reading Association's 2013 achievement exhibit difficulties in reading Fluency , it is What's Hot, What's Not survey, in which reading Fluency reasonable to expect that instruction in this area may lead was identified as not hot by the experts. Moreover, since to improvements in Fluency and the more important goal of word recognition automaticity (a component of Fluency ) is reading: comprehension.

3 Often assessed through reading speed, instructional methods have evolved into increasing students' reading rate. As a Several instructional methods have been identified to result, many teachers view Fluency as fast reading and Fluency develop Fluency in students. These methods can readily instruction as a quest for speed. Comprehension is minimized be incorporated into regular reading instruction as well as at best. intervention instruction for students who have not achieved grade-level proficiency in reading. F u r t h e r, t h o s e w h o v i e w f l u e n c y i n s t r u c t i o n a s instruction for speed have deemphasized its role in the Modeling Fluent Reading classroom.

4 Students are more likely to succeed in developing Fluency if they have a good sense of what constitutes reading Fluency . This can Clearly, appropriate instruction that leads to improved be done by teachers (or other more fluent readers) modeling Fluency and improved comprehension is sorely needed. fluent reading. 26 Reading Today April/May 2014 cy A teacher an fluen d a student ding it might be re discuss a passage and h to rea ad with fluen ow leads cy and mean pra ctice ing Re ading Reading aloud assisted reading easy to implement in to students has long classrooms or homes.

5 Been advocated for elementary classrooms. Students who are regularly read to With the advent of digital recording applications such as have larger vocabularies, are better comprehenders, and podcasts, teachers can create their own library of technology- are more motivated to read. In addition, when reading to students, assisted readings. Another form of assisted reading is captioned the teacher can help students notice how one's voice can be used television, where the viewer sees the words on the screen while to enhance meaning and to make the reading experience more hearing the words read.

6 In addition, publishers have combined satisfying. Students themselves will develop a better sense of what authentic literature with technology to create online programs for constitutes fluent reading and can try to make their oral reading modeled and assisted reading. These programs use advanced speech approximate the reading produced by the teacher. recognition technology to correct and support students as they read aloud, building Fluency and comprehension with the help of a Assisted Reading Supportive listener. In assisted reading, developing readers are supported by more proficient readers who read with students during oral reading.

7 This Wide Reading and Deep Reading can take a variety of forms, including group reading or paired reading. In reading, we generally think of practice in terms of wide reading where students regularly read new, never-before-read If a student does not have a person or group to read with, materials. Students read a story or chapter once, discuss it with technology provides an answer. In technology-assisted reading, the their classmates and teacher, and possibly engage in extension reader listens to a fluent recording of the same text while reading. activities. Then they move on to another new text.

8 In the past, the recorded reading took the form of cassette tapes, which were often easily damaged or lost. More recently, digital Now, consider students who are not good readers. They read the recordings and online software programs have made technology- text once but they don't read it or understand it well. If they never Fluency Development Lesson This daily lesson combines modeling fluent reading, assisted reading, and 5. The teacher organizes student pairs. Each student practices the passage repeated (and wide) reading, and takes no more than 25 to 30 minutes.

9 The two or three times while a partner listens and provides support and FDL also engages students in brief but intensive word study and in home encouragement. reading practice, which are critical to reading success. 6. Individuals and groups perform their reading for the class or other The FDL uses a daily poem or an other short text of 50 to 200 words. The goal audience. is for students to learn to read one text well. To achieve this, students listen to 7. The students and teacher choose three or four words from the text to add the text read to them, read it with other readers, practice the text repeatedly, to the word bank and/or word wall.

10 And eventually perform for an audience. 8. Students engage in word study activities. 9. Students take the passage home to practice with parents and other Following is a general outline of an FDL: family members. 1. Students read a familiar passage (story segment, poem, song lyric, etc.) 10. Students return to school and read the passage to the teacher or a from the previous lesson to the teacher or a fellow student for accuracy partner who checks for Fluency , accuracy and comprehension. and Fluency . 2. The teacher introduces a new short text and reads it aloud two or three Although each FDL incorporates repeated (deep) reading, it also allows for wide times, while the students follow along.